At
least 25 dead in Syrian 'chemical' attack as govt and rebels trade
blame
Syrian
rebels have used a rocket chemical warhead in Aleppo, killing 25
people and injuring 86, says Syria's Information Minister. The attack
escalates the Syrian conflict and brings the violence to a new level,
believe Russian diplomats
RT,
19
March, 2013
.
The
Syrian government's SANA news agency reported that terrorists fired a
rocket containing chemical substances in the Khan al-Assal area of
rural Aleppo and confirmed that at least 25 people, most of them
civilians, were killed.
A
photographer working for Reuters in Aleppo reported that the
witnesses of the attack complain of a strong smell of chlorine near
the epicenter of the attack. Reportedly, people had breathing
problems and some of them died of suffocation.
"They
said that people were suffocating in the streets and the air smelt
strongly of chlorine,”
the photographer said, stressing that most of the victims he saw
while visiting the University of Aleppo hospital and the al-Rajaa
hospital were women and children.
"People
were dying in the streets and in their houses,"
he said by phone.
A
statement published on the Russian Foreign Ministry website says that
“According to information
coming from Damascus, the armed opposition used chemical weapons
early in the morning on March 19 in the province of Aleppo” .
“This
is an extremely alarming and dangerous development of events in the
Syrian crisis,”
believe Russian diplomats.
The
Foreign Ministry stressed it is “seriously
concerned”
about the fact that WMD has fallen into the hands of the armed
militia.
“This
aggravates the situation in Syria and brings unfolding confrontation
in this country to a new level,”
the ministry states.
The
Obama administration announced it is looking carefully at the
chemical warfare allegation coming from Syria, but instantly called
into question the possible use of such weapons by opposition groups.
"We
are looking carefully at the information as it comes in,"
White House spokesman Jay Carney told reporters.
The
Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons says the
watchdog so far does not have independent confirmation of chemical
weapons use in Syria.
“I
don't think we know more than you do at the moment,"
maintained at a seminar in Vienna the head of the Organization for
the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) Ahmet Uzumcu.
"Of
course we have seen those reports and we are closely monitoring the
situation,"
he said.
Syria’s
Information Minister Omran al-Zoabi stated Turkey and Qatar bore
"legal, moral and
political responsibility"
for the "dangerous
escalation"
in violence because of their support of rebel groups fighting to oust
President Bashar Assad. He decried the incident as the interim
government’s “first act.”
The
Turkish government has immediately rejected Syria’s accusations of
taking part in the alleged chemical attack in Syria’s northern
province of Aleppo.
"This
is a baseless accusation. The Syrian government has accused Turkey in
the past as well,"
an unnamed Turkish official told Reuters.
Syrian
rebel commander Qassim Saadeddine immediately denied the accusations
and claimed the Syrian regime had launched Scud missiles containing
chemical agents on Khan al-Assa
Opposition
group the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported 26 people
killed following the attack, saying that 16 died on the scene, while
the other 10 died in hospital. A spokesperson for the organization
said it was unclear how many civilians perished in the attack.
The
British envoy to the UN told reporters on his way to the Security
Council that the reports on chemical weapon attack in Syria “haven't
yet been fully verified."
“But
clearly if chemical weapons were used then that would be abhorrent
and it would require a serious response from the international
community,"
Ambassador Mark Lyall Grant told reporters.
Syria's
Information Minister Omran al-Zoabi said on Tuesday the country's
armed forces would never use internationally banned chemical weapons.
“The
Syrian army leadership has stressed this before and we say it again,
if we had chemical weapons we would never use them due to moral,
humanitarian and political reasons,"
Zoabi said at a media conference.
"Our
armed forces absolutely could not use, not now, nor at any time, nor
in the past, any weapon banned by international law,”
he stressed.
The
opposition group, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported 26
people killed following the attack, saying that 16 died on the scene,
while the other 10 died in hospital. A spokesperson for the
organization said it was unclear how many civilians perished in the
attackPhoo
by Aleppo University Hospital
Fears
that Syria’s chemical weapons could fall into militant hands have
been a source of constant concern for the international community
over the past few months. The US and the UN have repeatedly warned
President Bashar Assad’s government against deploying its own
chemical arms stockpile.
Damascus
maintains that it would never use such weapons against its own
people, but would consider their deployment if threatened by outside
forces.
Reports
that Syrian rebels had seized control of a number of chemical weapons
depots in the Aleppo province emerged on Sunday.
"Opposition
fighters gained control over weapons and ammunition stores in the
village of Khan Toman in southern Aleppo province on Saturday after
fierce fighting that went on for more than three days,"
an anonymous military source told AFP. Reports of the weapons seizure
came after days of brutal clashes between opposition and government
forcesPhoto
by Aleppo University Hospital
The
source said the rebels only managed to steal a few crates containing
ammunition, as a large part of the weapons stockpile had been
transferred out of the facility. Activists disputed this, maintaining
that rebels had taken control of “huge
reserves.”
A video posted online showed fighters looking over crates of weapons
and ammunition, and claimed the attack was mounted by opposition
group the Martyrs of Syria.
UK-based
opposition group the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights confirmed
the attack, but did not mention chemical weapons among the arms that
were reportedly seized by the rebels.
Here
is the version of events from pro-Jihadist, anti-Russian al-Jazeera
Syrians
trade blame over 'chemical attack'
Foreign
ministry in Moscow says opposition is responsible for attack that
reportedly killed 31 people and injured 100.
19
March, 2013
Syria's
government and rebels have traded accusations of a chemical attack on
a northern village near Aleppo.
US
officials, however, said on Tuesday there was no evidence of any such
attack.
The
regime, whose allegation was backed by ally Russia, said 31 people
were killed, including 21 civilians and 10 soldiers.
The
accusations emerged only a few hours after the opposition to
President Bashar al-Assad elected a prime minister to head an interim
government that would rule areas seized by rebel forces from the
regime.
State-run
news agency SANA said more than 100 have been wounded, some of them
in critical condition.
SANA
published pictures showing casualties, including children, on
stretchers in what appears to be a hospital ward.
Syrian
Information Minister Omran al-Zoubi called it the "first act"
of the newly announced opposition interim government.
Rebels
quickly denied the report and accused regime forces of firing the
chemical weapon.
Ziad
Haddad, a medic in Aleppo, however, told Al Jazeera, the victims
seemed to have been exposed to organic pesticides and not chemical
weapons, like Sarin and VX nerve agents.
He
said several patients arrived in the emergency room earlier on
Tuesday morning with cases of suffocation and constricted pupils.
"Several
of them died of respiratory inhibition," he said.
"Victims
spoke of pungent smell. Chemical weapons are usually odourless."
“Moreover,
the number of deaths is small compared to those who would have died
had chemical weapons been used."
Haddad
said the casualties included Syrian regime soldiers and pro- Assad
armed men.
The
head of Syria's main opposition group, the Syrian National Coalition,
said the group was still investigating the alleged chemical attack
near Aleppo.
"Everyone
who used it, we are against him, whatever he is," Mouaz
al-Khatib told reporters in English in Istanbul.
"We
are against killing civilians using chemical weapons, but let us wait
some time to have accurate information."
The
regime is believed to possess nerve agents as well as mustard gas.
It
also possesses Scud missiles capable of delivering them, and some
activists said Tuesday's attack was with a Scud missile.
The
minister al-Zoubi said the missile containing "poisonous gases"
was fired from Nairab district in Aleppo into Khan al-Assal.
The
reported attack was in an area just west of the city of Aleppo that
had seen fierce fighting for weeks before rebels took over a
sprawling government complex there last month.
The
facility included several military posts and a police academy that
Assad's forces have turned into a military base that regularly fires
shells at nearby villages.
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